Have Stranger Things Happened
by Coneflower Adams
Summary: Third part in the "Manhattan Princess" series. What mischief takes place when the younger newsies find a pair of mischievous hobbits named Merry and Pippin?


Have Stranger Things Happened  
  
Writer note: This is a Newsies/Lord of the Rings crossover. This is actually my first stab at LOTR, and hope it comes out good. This fic is sort of apart of the "Manhattan Princess" series. You'll recognize my character, Julie Carpenter, from it. Everyone enjoy :P  
  
***  
  
"Hey Merry, what should we do today?"  
  
"I don't know, Pip. We been walking an awfully long time."  
  
The two hobbits paused at a tall tree with roots crawling from the ground. It was pretty much a boring day. They'd been walking down roads, through woodlands, and fields all day after they'd been chased from a couple farms. Farmer Maggot was getting clever about how to keep them off his land. He got more dogs.  
  
Merry leaned against the tree trunk. "I say we rest here."  
  
"If you say so. We're not needed anywhere soon." Pippin gazed up from the base to the limbs of the tree. His eyes sparked with mischief. "Have you ever climbed a tree?"  
  
"What?" Merry asked, making a face. "You can do that?"  
  
"Why not?" Pippin asked back, shrugging. He dropped his satchel, and grabbed the lowest branch. "Come on, Merry."  
  
Merry dropped his own satchel to follow his friend. They climbed to some high limbs before Merry stopped. "I think we gone far enough."  
  
"You think?" Pippin looked down. "I think we could go all the way to the top and jump."  
  
Merry's eyes went wipe. "We've done some unusually absurd things, but jumping from the top of a tree?"  
  
"You're right" Pippin said after a moments thought. "Let's stop here." He scooted onto a branch and balanced to sit - with Merry following.   
  
"You know" Merry said, breaking the long silence. "We're still doing nothing, but now doing nothing in a tree."  
  
"I say it couldn't get any better except if we had mushrooms up here."  
  
"Let's go find some!" Merry suggested.   
  
"Sounds like a plan!" Pippin pushed to get off the branch, but lost his balance. He fell back first, grabbing a handful of Merry's coat - taking his friend with him...  
  
"What are those?"  
  
"Who knows, I surely don't."  
  
"Les, poke it with this stick."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Talk about a rude awakening. The first thing Pippin felt as he started to regain consciousness was an irritating poking in his side. He groaned, tried to turn over, and felt more than just poking. He reached for the back of his head.   
  
"That one is waking up!" a young girl's voice said in excitement.  
  
"We can see that, Julie" a boy's deep, rough voice replied, arrogantly.  
  
"The other one is waking up too!" another boy announced.   
  
Pippin finally opened his eyes. His sight was greeted by five children: four boys and one girl. They stared curiously down at him. A groan beside him caught his ears, and he turned his head to see Merry waking up. "Merry" he called.   
  
"What?" his friend asked, opening his eyes and looking over at him.   
  
"What happened to us?"   
  
"We fell out a tree, which -you- suggested we climb." Merry caught sight of the children now, his eyes widening in surprise at they're staring. "Hullo?"  
  
Julie smiled. "Hi strange-looking-people."  
  
Snipeshooter rolled his eyes. He held his hand out. "Let me help you up."   
  
Pippin took his hand as Merry took Boots' hand. Everyone was basically the same size since hobbits were small people. The two hobbits peered around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Where may we be?" Merry asked.  
  
"Central Park" Les answered, sounding as if everyone in the whole world knew the famous Park in Manhattan.   
  
"You're mortal" Pippin commented abruptly, noticing the children weren't hobbits. They also bore strange clothes too.   
  
The children exchanged confused glances since they had no clue what 'mortal' meant. "No, we're Newsies" Boots corrected.   
  
"What kind of creature is that? Do you carry any powers?" Pippin asked, relatively interested.   
  
Snipeshooter grinned, slyly, taking this opportunity to his advantage. "Yeah, we have powers. We improve the truth." The boys laughed, but Julie smacked him.   
  
"I'm not sure how that power worked, but it sounds like a wonderful gift."   
  
"What's your names?" Slider asked.  
  
"I'm Merry and he is Pippin."   
  
"I'm Snipeshooter, and this is Boots, Les, and Slider." He pointed them out. "That girl is Julie the Princess, but she's mine so don't even think about it."  
  
"Snipes!" Julie smacked him again. She turned to the hobbits to address them. "Pay no mind to him. He's not all there. I am not his."  
  
"You're a princess?" Merry asked, amazement covering his face as he stared at Julie.   
  
"She's not..." Snipes started, but was instantly cut-off by a hand over his mouth.  
  
"Yes, I am." Julie smiled then grimaced. Snipes had bit her finger.   
  
"A real princess" Pippin fluttered, bending to one knee and taking her hand. "We never been in the presence of a real princess before."  
  
Merry grasped her other hand, and kissed it. "We are at your service your majesty."  
  
Julie was practically glowing from the wonderful attention; her smile threatening to bust her face. "See boys," she called to her friends. "This is how a real boy treats a lady. You should take note of this."  
  
"Why should we when you're not a lady?" Snipes remarked to her face in a low tone. Julie ignored him.   
  
"What are you anyway? You look older than us, but we're the same size" Slider commented, noticing the weird features of the hobbits.  
  
"We're hobbits from Middle-earth" Pippin answered. The children nodded, but wasn't sure what a hobbit or Middle-earth was.   
  
"We have no idea how we came to Central Park" Merry said. "I've never heard of it before. Is it in Middle-earth?"  
  
Les scrunched his face and answered since the others look confused. "Naw, we live on Earth in a country called America. That's what my brother says. He knows everything! He has a big head."  
  
"He does" Boots agree.   
  
"Maybe Middle-earth is under Earth" Pippin suggested. No one agreed or disagreed because they had no clue either.  
  
"Hey, why don't we show you our powers of improving the truth" Snipes said, a glint of mischief in his eye.   
  
The hobbits exchanged glances. This was turning out to be an interesting day. The Brandybuck and Took decided it be an adventure worth taking especially if they got back to the Shire. Being dropped in a different dimension would beat any tale ever told! The hobbits grinned. "Let's go." 


End file.
